Chapter Nine
Daemon
A PROMISE
My ears roared as the wind rushed past them. Each thundering step against the gravel felt like an eternity as I raced toward the Scoren house. It wasn’t far, yet I still couldn’t get there fast enough.
A wretched sound tore through the night—the grievous wails slashed the air, rising above the frantic pounding of my own heart.
I pushed my straining muscles harder, every part of my body screaming.
The rocks dug into the soles of my feet, yet I hardly registered it.
I feared I already knew who was letting out the cry.
My legs didn’t slow as I leapt onto the porch. I noticed the deceased raven discarded on the wooden slats, and I swallowed a snarl.
Those fuckers killed the bird. He was just trying to protect her…
I burst through the broken front door. It was only when I saw the aftermath inside that I stopped. The nightmarish sight before me glued my feet to the floor.
Allayna was draped over her son’s lifeless chest.
Vosten…
Minutes. It had only been minutes, and within that time, my best friend was dead.
He was a brother to me, more than my own blood could have ever been.
And his parents—they were the family I had always wanted—one I pretended I could have, if I lived a normal life.
I’d always been envious of how close they were, how they ate late-night dinners just to be together, how they actually showed that they cared.
It was foreign to my family; not that it was a bad thing, just how things were. But now that dream was gone.
And Vhaena—her absence from the gruesome scene was like a punch to the gut. Though I knew it was pointless, panic clawed at my chest as I tore through the house, rushing into the bathroom and the two rooms, throwing myself under the beds and yanking aside the curtains, hoping she was only hiding.
Vhaena had been taken. She was gone…
I went back out to the living room with Allayna. The sight caused grief to lodge itself in my throat. She hadn’t even looked up when I barged into her home, too focused on cradling her son’s body. I bent down next to her and placed a hand on her trembling shoulder.
“Allayna,” I whispered.
“Help me.” Her broken voice strained through the tears flowing down her cheeks and across her lips.
“Allayna, he’s gone.”
“No… Please. No,” she whimpered. “Don’t— Oh, god!”
She glanced down beneath her as the blood seeped from Vosten’s body, soaking into her clothes. Her breaths came shorter as she looked at the crimson fluid with horror.
“Daemon. Daemon, help me! Help him! Go find someone. Anyone!”
I couldn’t bring myself to look at my friend, or the hammer embedded in his skull. My stomach churned. I couldn’t lose it right now.
“Allayna, I can’t help him. No one can, but I can help Vhaena. Where is she?” One last stretch of hope that I was wrong…
“Vhaena… They took her!” Allayna gasped when it hit her, and she looked up at me with terror-filled eyes. “The demons took her.”
All of the breath was stolen from my lungs.
She was chosen.
This fucking town voted her to be the sacrifice of Nillah. How that was possible, I had no idea. She hadn’t even been on the ballot.
What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?
“What we promised,” my demon answered.
And he was right. But I had to hurry.
“When? How long ago? What direction did they go?” I asked Allayna and glanced out the door as if I could spot them in the darkness.
“I—I don’t know. I don’t know, Daemon. I don’t know!” she wailed.
I cupped her face in my hands to calm her. “Listen to me. I need you to focus so I can help.”
She took a shaky breath, gathering herself, then nodded. “They hit her across the temple and put a bag over her head, then carried her away. I—I couldn’t go after her. And Vosten…” Her voice trailed off.
She wasn’t able to chase after her daughter. But I could.
I needed to leave. I needed to go after Vhaena before it was too late. I didn’t have a plan, but I would figure it out along the way. I couldn’t just leave here without doing something, though. Allayna had no one left.
I ran back to the bedroom and shuffled through the wardrobe, grabbing a sheet from the bottom shelf.
Then I went back into the living room, setting it down next to Allayna as I crouched beside her.
She would hate me for this, but someone had to do it.
I gently pulled her hand from Vosten’s shirt, crumpled from where she had gripped it.
“Wait—” she begged, but I didn’t stop.
I lifted her into my arms, grabbed her cane, and carried her down the hall to her room as she slammed her fist into my chest, pleading with me to take her back to her child.
“I’m sorry. I truly am. But he’s gone,” I said, trying to keep my voice soft and mask the urgency I felt. “I have to go after Vhaena before they—” I almost gave myself away, telling her about the docks. I needed to be more careful. “Before they get too far.”
She stopped fighting against me and let me set her down on the bed. I placed the cane next to her so she could walk if needed.
“My little girl…please save her. She’ll die out there. I can’t lose anyone else… I can’t—”
I know.
“Daemon, please get her. Bring her back. Promise me…”
“Promise me…” Vosten’s voice echoed in my mind.
I held her hopeful stare. “I will.”
I shouldn’t have done it, shouldn’t have promised her something I didn’t know I could keep. But I would do whatever it took.
Her lip trembled as she nodded, urging me to go.
I squeezed her hand before leaving, closing the door behind me, hoping it would mute the sound of what I was about to do.
I went back to Vosten’s body. I didn’t have time to mourn him, to give him the respect he deserved, but I did what I could.
I closed his eyes with the tips of my fingers before grabbing his arm and dragging his body across the floor.
I stopped once his body was clear of the door and fully on the porch.
I couldn’t think of how I was pulling my best friend’s corpse outside.
There would be time to grieve later. For now, I could do this so Allayna didn’t have to suffer the stench of her son decaying in front of her.
Hurrying to dig a hole, laying a simple sheet over him, and covering him in dirt was all I could spare.
I knew she would limp back to his body, but she couldn’t get down the porch even with her cane.
I wished I had the time to pay the same respect for Neo…
Just before I dashed off the porch and down the road, I glanced back at the mound of earth.
“I’ll keep my vow. I’ll protect her,” I whispered, hoping wherever Vosten’s soul was that he would hear me.
Then I ran.